{"id":329,"date":"2016-03-29T16:55:20","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T16:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/?p=329"},"modified":"2018-09-02T22:05:24","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T22:05:24","slug":"the-demise-of-aesthetic-life-in-dorian-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/2016\/03\/29\/the-demise-of-aesthetic-life-in-dorian-gray\/","title":{"rendered":"The Demise of Aesthetic Life in Dorian Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the final scene of <\/span>The Picture of Dorian Gray, <\/span><\/i>Dorian determines to destroy the portrait of himself in an effort to also destroy \u201call that that meant\u201d (212). For Dorian, to kill his portrait \u201cwould kill the past, and when that was dead he would be free. It would kill this monstrous soul-life, and without its hideous warnings, he would be at peace\u201d (212). Dorian\u2019s resolution to destroy his portrait is a futile effort to alleviate his anxieties about the past, the power of conscious, and ultimately, about the existence of a higher universal design. Dorian\u2019s stabbing of the painting constitutes his final attempt to achieve the pleasurable existence that Lord Henry seduced him with, which Walter Pater describes in the conclusion of <\/span>The Renaissance <\/span><\/i>as \u201cNot the fruit of experience, but experience itself\u2019 (152). However, Dorian is unsuccessful, and Wilde leaves us with a final image of Dorian\u2019s physical body visibly marked with the accumulation of his sins, \u201cwithered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage\u201d (213). Dorian\u2019s failed attempt to \u201cmaintain [the] ecstasy\u201d of the present moment represents the triumph of conscience and morality over the aesthetic possibilities of art. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the heart of <\/span>Dorian Gray <\/span><\/i>is the reversal of the physical forms of art and conscience that occurs when Dorian wishes for his portrait to age so that he might remain eternally young. From the moment that the painting first changes to reflect the state of Dorian\u2019s soul, it is evident that the painting has taken on the role of conscience, while Dorian\u2019s now-eternal beauty enables him to realize the purpose of art: \u201cto give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments\u2019 sake\u201d (153). Initially, the physical separation of Dorian\u2019s conscience, or the painting, allows him to pursue \u201cexperience itself,\u201d a life of the senses, quite successfully. However, his portrait, or conscience, continues to haunt him, and his perception of the portrait at the end of the novel indicates that he believes that its destruction will allow him to pursue a sensual life unhindered. In order to continue to embrace the beauty of the present moment, Dorian believes that he must \u201ckill the past,\u201d and kill the \u201cmonstrous soul-life\u201d that sends him \u201chideous warnings\u201d with each transgression that he commits (212). For Dorian, this piece of art has come to represent the anxiety-producing concepts of the past, conscience, and a higher universal design. The portrait now performs the exact opposite function of art; instead of offering the \u201chighest quality\u201d to each moment, \u201csimply for those moments\u2019 sake,\u201d the portrait now simultaneously pulls Dorian backwards towards the past and forwards into an afterlife in which he will surely be punished by his sins. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dorian\u2019s effort to eradicate the perversion of art that his portrait has become and to reap the benefits of his own existence as a piece of art results in his demise. After Dorian stabs the painting, the initial reversal between the painting and himself occurs once more: the portrait becomes art, and Dorian is marked with the physical evidence of his conscience. This final transformation emphasizes the futility of truly living for the sake of the current moment, and of seeking only experience in itself. As Dorian\u2019s fate indicates, to live such a life would require a separation of the body and soul, and such a separation is not truly possible. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the final scene of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian determines to destroy the portrait of himself in an effort to also destroy \u201call that that meant\u201d (212). For Dorian, to kill his portrait \u201cwould kill the past, and when that was dead he would be free. It would kill this monstrous soul-life, and … Continue reading The Demise of Aesthetic Life in Dorian Gray<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3012,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123782,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-blog-post","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3012"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}